Challenges Young Adolescents Face and How Youth Work Can Respond
Young adolescents are individuals aged 11-25 years. Young people go through many changes, physical, mental, personality, emotional and intellectual changes, as they transit into adulthood.
Naturally, they experience several challenges within this phase. Some of these changes include but are not limited to bullying, poverty, depression, unemployment, self-esteem and body image, nature and dynamics of the family, teen pregnancy and substance abuse. 
Youth work aims at intervening and helping them see the tough times through while leading normal and safe lives. In this essay, we shall discuss how family impacts youth development and several ways in which youth work can intervene (Jon, 2016 p316).
Nature and Dynamic of Family
Family is described to be a group of people united by law, blood ties or sexual mating who are living together as a unit. It is the most basic group in society with there being several types of families having different characteristics based on the same structure of breadwinner-homemaker family along with children (Naldini 297).
A family structure is a support system for a married couple and their child or children, offering emotional and psychological support as well as building and nurturing their offspring’s personalities. Family structures have changed over the course of the years with demographic trends and beliefs having played a role in the dynamics behind present day families. The stereotypical male breadwinner female homemaker family, along with children has become diverse over the years giving rise to an increase in cohabiting relationships, divorces, children born outside marriages, delayed fertility and a decrease in the number of marriages resulting in new family forms. Some of the changes the family structure has undergone through the years are mainly divorce and single parenting (Richards, 2017 p56).
Divorces result in change in the family structure, children and young people need to be equipped with ways on how to overcome the pressure that comes with the change in roles played by the parents as well as other changes such as moving to a new neighbourhood or school and or feeling like they should pick sides (Brianne, 2016 p246). 
Single parenthood rises as the popularity for marriage decreases (Lingiardi, 2017 p1871). Aside from divorce, single parenthood can arise from death of one spouse, abandonment by a spouse or birth outside marriage. All these factors play a role in a young persons life as they are exposed to situations considered outside the norm by other members of society (Fonagy, 2015 p157). 
Youth work response
Youth work response could be posed as counselling for the youth by making them understand that differences in the structure of their families does not make them different from the rest of the young people. Make it known to them that how they view their situation could make them stronger as they will learn how to deal with less than optimum conditions later in life.
Youth work should create links with schools and ensure teachers practice models set for intervention and attend training programs on how to apply the models and deal with different home structures, be it divorce, adoption or homosexual parenting. Aside from that, the youth work should ensure the young person gets proper counselling to know how to deal with criticism from the media and their peers. These youth should be allowed to feel at home in their environments (Davies, 2018 p32).

Unemployment 
Finding work has become a never-ending chore for youth. This change has been brought about by lack of experience required for a job position, lack of enough and correct information on careers being given to the youth, employers’ opinions of hiring young people, economic downturns and schools not equipping students with appropriate skills being sought for in the job market (Powell, 2017 p1784).
With the increase of the job searching period, a youth member could get overwhelmed emotionally and psychologically by the pressures of the cost of living. Lack of a stable and peaceful mind could lead to making  poor decisions that could affect them in the long run such as substance abuse which and addiction. As the period of unemployment increases a reduction in their career potentials are also risked as the longer they are unemployed, the higher the chances of them losing relevant skills learnt at school. In time they get discouraged about finding significant jobs that offer a sustainable living wage making them settle for careers that they are overqualified for.
Youth work response
Youth work should work with prospective employers by organising, supporting and marketing programs where the prospective employers interact with the youth as they pursue their education. This allows the youth to know what is required of them in the job market in their respective fields. Ensuring schools have an effective career guidance system, especially high schools, also goes a long way as students get to choose their career paths early in life. This gives them ample time to settle on a career path and allows them to gather accurate and adequate information on the careers they pick as well as what course to register for preventing disappointment in future as they advance to the job market. 
Youth work can work with schools to create mentorship programs where youth interact with professionals in different fields. Exposing the youth to first-hand data of the job market goes a long way in helping them prepare for job hunting and what to major on depending on interests and skills. 
Youth who cannot seem to find a job due to poor school performance should be encouraged to become entrepreneurs based on skills they have. This not only creates a job for the given individual but also creates job opportunities for others who are unemployed hence killing two birds with one stone (Sala, 2016 p442).
Poverty
A youth who lacks adequate resources to maintain a minimum living standard is considered to be in a state of poverty. This means that the said person cannot meet basic human needs such as housing, healthy food, medical attention and clean drinking water. Among all other age groups, the youth is most likely to suffer from poverty due to the vulnerability and uncertainty of this age group. Chances of suffering from poverty reduces with an increase in age, making the youth a primary target for poverty (Eldin, 2017 p41).
A research conducted by The Joseph Rowntree Foundation shows that there are several factors in play that affect the risk of poverty among the youth. Some of the causes of poverty found are lack of finding stable well-paying jobs, paying off student loans, how long it takes for a youth to become financially stable, starting a family and leaving the parents home and setting up their own home being the biggest factor. Youth who have children at this age increase their risk of suffering from poverty as costs of caring for a child are very high especially in the first year after birth (Ceri, 2015 p452).

Youth work response
Youth work intervention could come in many ways such as organising forums aimed at equipping the youth with means of escaping poverty through the provision of counter measures against the factors that could lead them into poverty, factors such as starting families without stable jobs. With the high cost of maintenance of children and bills, lack of a stable well paying job will definitely increase possibility of poverty.  Youth who have moved out of their parents’ houses could be advised to move in with a roommate since cost sharing reduces the financial pressure and allows for money circulation in satisfying other needs like health insurance, healthy eating and paying other bills.
Youth work could work with the government to ensure that poverty eradication policies among the youth are complied to. Policies such as the minimum wage an individual should be paid based on age experience and nature of the work should be adhered to and institutions that do not do so should be reported. With the youth getting paid fairly, poverty among them will reduce. Youth work could also organise programs that teach simple financial management skills so youth are able to satisfy their primary needs and save extra for future purposes (Waters, 2018 p747).
Conclusion
Youthworks primary function is to assist the youth achieve their full potential in their social, academic, professional and personal lives where applicable. Its projects are designed so that youth who face a variety of problems such as family dynamics, unemployment and poverty can benefit. Youth work is structured in a way where some workers work directly with the youth, offering counselling and support when needed and organisation of community based programs that equip the youth with vital skills that help them transit into adulthood as smoothly as possible. 
Youth who have experienced adequate counselling are able to problem solve issues in a mature way without putting themselves in harms way. With the skills instilled by youth workers, youth are able to effectively take part in community development projects. 
References
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